Keeping your irrigation system in good working condition will help keep your overall water use down.

Once a month, conduct a mini morning irrigation audit. Grab your favorite morning beverage and take a walk around your property while the irrigation system is running.

Download and print a checklist for your audit

You’ve done your own mini check using the printed checklist, but you would like additional help finding ways to reduce your outdoor use or understand what efficiency means to your yard. Scottsdale Water has a number of highly qualified staff that will walk around your property with you to learn how to discover leaks, program your irrigation clock and receive irrigation repair tips. One check per property, must be a Scottsdale Water Customer. Call 480-312-5650 to schedule.

According to the EPA, the average household loses more than 10,000 gallons of water each year through leaks – that’s the same amount of water needed to wash 280 loads of laundry, take 600 showers or meet the average family’s water needs for a month! Some leaks are slow and hard to detect, but even the smallest leaks add up.

Scottsdale Water and the Arizona Municipal Water Users Association have created a step-by-step Smart Home Water Guide to help you find leaks that are draining your budget and provide you with tips for efficient home water use.

The Smart Home Water Guide water guide is available through the Arizona Municipal Water Users Association (AMWUA) website, or you can request a hard copy of this and other Water Conservation publications online or by calling 480-312-5650.

Most pool leaks are found in the pool equipment. Periodically turn the pool equipment on and look for visible leaks on the equipment and for wet spots on the ground between the equipment and the pool. Also look for white crusty mineral deposits on pipes, which could indicate a slow leak.

You can read the instructions below or watch: How to Do a Bucket Test

The bucket test is simple. You'll need a bucket and a wax pen.

Pool evaporation rates vary for a variety of reasons, including sunlight intensity, air and water temperature, wind, humidity and shading. It's estimated that a 400 sq. ft. pool will lose approximately 19,665 gallons of water per year to evaporation. This table shows inches and gallons of water lost to evaporation for each month.

Climate-based smart controllers automatically adjust watering schedules throughout the year based on the estimated amount of moisture in plant soil, replenishing water only as needed and minimizing excess water use. A properly programmed smart controller requires initial site-specific set-up and will make irrigation schedule adjustments, including run times and required cycles, throughout the irrigation season without human intervention. 

Smart controllers use a variety of methods to estimate or measure soil moisture depletion including: 

After initial set-up and some fine tuning, smart controllers only need to be reprogrammed when there are changes to the landscape or irrigation system. Proper programming requires knowledge of plants, soils and other landscape conditions. It is important to read your manual for program instructions or contact a landscape professional who has experience working with smart controllers.

Desert plants prefer deep and infrequent watering.

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